On March 2, 2018, I am headed to Dominica to volunteer with IsraAID. They’ve been on the ground since the hurricane hit, first providing relief and now working towards recovery.  I’ll be there for three months, until June, with the goal to get as many families as possible under roof before then. June is the start of the 2018 Hurricane season.  My job will be to help IsraAID create a supply chain to source, manage, and move the relief and construction supplies needed to roof homes. It will definitely be “on the job learning”! And, I might even add construction skills to my current resume of destruction experience.

What’s it going to be like?

Living conditions will be interesting. We will be living at the Rosalie Bay Resort which used to be a glorious paradise. (You can also follow the resort on Facebook). But, it sustained significant damage, and is now closed indefinitely. I am told that the rooms are still “functional” – but, beyond that, we will have only intermittent electricity, (via generators), and running water sometimes, (when it is not raining – which I don’t quite understand, but, probably soon will). WiFi and cellular communications are extremely unstable, so I better (start and) finish binging the second season of The Crown before I depart. We evidently need to travel over an 1.5 hours (on terrible roads) to the West side of the Island to Roseau (the capital) to access more amenities. I have been specifically instructed to come equipped with massive quantities of Deet – but, good news: mosquito netting comes included.

We will definitely not go hungry. I will be joining a 16 person team (mostly Israeli) already on the ground, and we’ll cook and eat as a group – sometimes we’re provided with a cook, go figure! I was told that most of the team is pescatarian, and we are coming into the season of wonderful fresh fruits. This is clearly going to be better than the food at the Israeli Army Base, but, then again, that won’t take much. I doubt it will reach the pinnacle of cooking dinners at my wonderful Houston host and friend Tina’s condo and then kicking back, drinking wine, and screaming ourselves hoarse as the Astros captured the World Series.

First supply chain test – getting there

I really struggled to find decent routing to get there. Routing is pretty bad because very few major airlines are flying in there right now – making the typical route through Miami a 30 hour ordeal with 2 overnights. So, crazy as it is to fly through JFK, (with 11 hour layovers), it looked to be the quickest and cheapest. It seemed better than walking, but, only slightly…

IsraAid got in touch with me and we found a slightly easier, definitely more enjoyable, (and cheaper) outbound itinerary, instead of flying to JFK. I will fly SEA-MIA, and from there it’s a well-kept secret that on Saturdays (only) you can get a cheap AA flight from MIA to Guadalupe. From there you can fly to Dominica – but, only if you get there early in the day, which (big surprise) I don’t. So, I’ve booked an AirBnb in Guadalupe for Saturday night. Unfortunately on Sundays  there are no flights to Dominica from Guadalupe, but, there *is* a ferry, so I am taking that. It’s a bit convoluted, but, the airplane connections are actually good, and I score a bonus afternoon and evening in Guadalupe – instead of 11 hour layovers in JFK and Barbados airports. The June  return is frighteningly simple: Dominica – San Juan – MIA – SEA. All flights and all in ONE day, (somehow that sounds too good to be true – we’ll see)

My next post should land once I am in on the ground in Dominica – probably the week of March 5.  I cannot close without thanking all of you for your encouragement when I worried this role would not come together and your current support as I get increasingly nervous waiting to depart.

-Debra